Black Friday Gun Boom: 3 Gun Sales Per Second

There are many who don’t like guns, many who are scared of guns, and many who view gun owners as their enemies.

It appears that last group has just gained a bunch of new people to hate.

A CNN article noted that “Black Friday” 2014 set a new record high for NICS background checks, recording more than 175,000 calls. This falls just short of the all-time record of 177,000 on December 21, 2012.

The system, operated by the FBI and “contract call center” employees, provides a so-called “instant” check to determine whether a potential buyer may legally receive a firearm. No licensed gun dealer may transfer a firearm to anyone without performing this check.

While I personally do not believe in the NICS system and don’t think it has kept guns out of the hands of a single criminal, it does provide a handy way to gauge gun sales. And what a boom gun shops are having this year. At the end of the day, the average number was just shy of 3 calls per second.

That’s great news for the gun world and for the USA, and hopefully it won’t contribute to the moronic, long-lived, and aggravating ammo shortage that has been plaguing us for the past couple of years.

Russ Chastain

Editor & Contributing Writer Russ Chastain is a lifelong hunter and shooter who has spent his life learning about hunting, shooting, guns, ammunition, gunsmithing, reloading, and bullet casting. He started toting his own gun in the woods at age nine and he's pursued deer with rifles since 1982, so his hunting knowledge has been growing for more than three and a half decades. His desire and ability to share this knowledge with others has also grown, and Russ has been professionally writing and editing original hunting & shooting content since 1998. Russ Chastain has a passion for sharing accurate, honest, interesting hunting & shooting knowledge and stories with people of all skill levels.